


Paintings

by theoretically_moss



Series: Our Crimson Path [6]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Portraits, also this really is just a short fic to get across byleth's new look for post hsc content, or at least i think it's fluff because it's not my normal angst, paintings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:55:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22791340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theoretically_moss/pseuds/theoretically_moss
Summary: Byleth long hated paintings of herself. Always depicting her as something other than human, someone beyond grasp. Though there was one exception she could make.A fic taking place after Hands Stained Crimson.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Series: Our Crimson Path [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1556530
Comments: 5
Kudos: 172





	Paintings

**Author's Note:**

> While this fic does take place sometime after Hands Stained Crimson, one doesn't need to read HSC to understand this. It's just some parts might make more sense to readers of HSC.

Byleth passed one of the many paintings that adorned the halls of the palace of Enbarr, stopping in her tracks. She looked up to the painting, noting it was a portrait of herself. Or so that’s what anyone else would believe, but the woman she saw in the painting was another.

The woman had the same mess of blue hair pulled back into a ponytail and her face was the same shape. She wore the very same black and silver jacket and wore the same large red cape that came around, covering her left shoulder with silver armor peeking out from beneath, adorning the woman’s arm.

Despite looking the exact same as Byleth though, the woman in the painting was not her. The woman’s lips were pulled down in a slight frown. Serious. Cold. Distant. Perhaps that had been who she was in the past, but now Byleth was different. She had a heart.

The portrait was by far better than the paintings depicting her as some saint in her previous lives. Always showing her as ethereal and distant from all beings. Like a high and mighty power that none could reach. At least the painting before her showed a human, even if they were one who held power. Still, Byleth hated paintings. They always made her seem so inhuman and distant. Perhaps that was who the archbishop and General Eisner were, but Byleth was someone different. A human like any other who had thoughts and feelings beyond what any paintings had shown. But there was little she could do about it. There would always be one noble or another who would pay artists for paintings of any and all important figures. That didn’t mean Byleth hated seeing them any less, though.

Letting out a sigh, she continued her walk down the halls before coming across the doors to her chambers. Byleth entered, finding the room empty. Though she supposed she wouldn’t find Edelgard here, the emperor likely working tirelessly at her duties. Out of the corner of her eye, Byleth noticed papers left atop Edelgard’s desk. While she didn’t doubt Edelgard would work here at night if necessary, she wouldn’t leave it sitting on this desk.

Byleth stepped closer to the desk, noticing the contents of the papers sprawled across it. Her lips quirked up into a smile as she picked up one of the papers, examining it. They were drawings of Byleth. The real Byleth. Smiling. Laughing. Crying. A whole variety of emotions, perhaps even rarer ones that only Edelgard saw, but they were still there. They were all Byleth.

“Byleth, please put those down!”

The blue-haired woman turned around to see Edelgard standing by the doorway, a blush forming on the emperor’s cheeks. A small laugh escaped Byleth’s lips as she smiled at her wife. “Sorry, I was just curious. Not to mention your sketches are beautiful.”

Edelgard’s blush deepened as she approached the desk, cleaning up the sketches and putting them away in a drawer. “There’s no need to flatter me. My drawings are simply sloppy and inaccurate imitations of what is. There are numerous errors one cannot look past.” She let out a long sigh, looking back to Byleth. “Had I known you would return early, you wouldn’t have seen them.”

“Well, I’m glad I finished my mission quickly, then.” A wide smile came across Byleth’s lips as she spoke. “You may not think your art is good, but I find your art is improving with time and becoming rather lovely. Though, they’re not as lovely as you.”

Byleth leaned down, pressing a kiss to her wife’s lips, the gesture gladly returned. They briefly separated before Edelgard pulled them into an embrace, resting her head in the crook of Byleth’s neck. “Well, I suppose I can accept your flattery just this once as an apology.”

They remained in the comfort of each other’s embrace for a long few moments, staying in a peaceful silence before it was broken by a whisper from Byleth’s lips. “I do mean it though. Your skills have improved. One day, I’d like to see you make a painting of me.”

A small hum escaped Edelgard’s lips. “I thought you hated paintings of yourself.”

Resting her face in the crown of Edelgard’s hair, a small smile quirked across Byleth’s lips. “I hate paintings of people who look like me. But I would love to see a painting of the real me, and I can’t think of a better artist to do so.”

Edelgard’s arms tightened around Byleth as the shorter woman let out a small laugh. “Then perhaps I will one day.”

**Author's Note:**

> AHAHAHA! I RETURN FROM THE GRAVE WITH MORE CONTENT.
> 
> Yeah, but really, I've just been getting back into the groove of college and resting after writing 38 FREAKING CHAPTERS OF HSC WITHOUT BREAK. WOW. I STILL CANNOT BELIEVE. This is just a short fic to say, hi, I'm alive and that I plan to write more in the future. My next goal is to read through and edit all of HSC as a refresher before I write any real epilogue stuff. After that? I'm either writing epilogue stuff, my sibling Byleth fic (including background Edeleth), or maybe finally updating my old Fates fic. But, thanks for reading and I'm glad to be back. Back in Edeleth hell.
> 
> Also, check me out on [twitter.](https://twitter.com/theoreticalmoss) I talk about HSC and my other fics there, and general Fire Emblem. I've been talking about [General](https://twitter.com/theoreticalmoss/status/1215820017599762432?s=20) [Eisner](https://twitter.com/theoreticalmoss/status/1221830649100865536?s=20) there, too (aka designing/drawing her)


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